


Car

by CheshireSense (cywscross)



Series: UraIchi Unconnected Word Shorts [2]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Future Fic, M/M, Original Character(s), Post-Canon, Pre-Slash, Uryuu the Relationship Guru
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-18 22:23:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14223066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cywscross/pseuds/CheshireSense
Summary: Urahara Kisuke handlespursuit of a love interestabout the same way he handles everything else: with needlessly convoluted plans carried out in the most roundabout way possible because straightforward just won't cut it for him.He's lucky Ichigo's used to it by now.





	Car

 

The first time Kisuke makes the drive over to pick Ichigo up, Ichigo ends up gaping for a good ten seconds at the nondescript Toyota parked at the curb.

“You can _drive?_ ” is the first thing out of his mouth, because hell if this isn’t the strangest thing he’s ever seen, and he’s seen a _lot_ of strange things in his life.

Kisuke peers at him from underneath his hat, amused and faintly exasperated in turn. “Did you think I only ever walked around?”

Ichigo never really gave much in-depth thought about that but- “I always figured if you wanted to get anywhere farther than Karakura, you’d just cook up a portal or invent instant teleportation to take you there.”

Kisuke visibly pauses and seems to consider this for a moment before conceding the point with a nod. “Fair. I probably would. But even I want to stretch my legs and do things the old-fashioned way sometimes, Ichigo. Besides, what did you think I meant when I asked if you wanted me to pick you up?”

“Shunpo,” Ichigo answers promptly.

Kisuke smiles a bit at that even as he pushes off the side of the open driver’s door he’s been leaning against. “There’s no rush today. It’s only a two-hour drive each way, the scenery isn't bad, and I’m not Yoruichi-san.” He turns to duck back into the car. “Now get in. Unless _you_ would rather shunpo, of course.”

Ichigo huffs but quickly jogs around to the passenger’s side. He won’t say no to a free ride, and even he likes doing some things the human way instead of resorting to his Shinigami powers all the time.

Two minutes in (and wow, Kisuke is a great driver, not too fast, not too slow, and smooth as a skater gliding on ice; Ichigo would never have guessed, the guy definitely seems the type to speed and cheerfully cut people off at every possible intersection), Ichigo frowns and remembers to ask, “Wait, if there’s no rush, why are you picking me up? When you called, I thought there was some kind of trouble again.”

Kisuke slants an unreadable sideways look at him. “I can’t give you a ride home just because I want to?”

Ichigo blinks back, mystified. “Well… of course you can. But it’s an extra four hours’ worth of fuel for you, and it literally takes me like five seconds to open a Garganta from here to Karakura. It’s what I’ve been doing for months now. I’m a regular taxi service for Chad and the others because we’re all too cheap to shell out for an apartment in Tokyo when we don’t have to. Well, except Inoue. She and Tatsuki share a flat.”

“Old-fashioned way,” Kisuke reminds him airily, which explains exactly nothing but Ichigo is used to that from Kisuke by now. “And gas money is pocket change to me.” He honest-to-God pouts here. “Can’t I just do something out of the goodness of my heart?”

It’s Ichigo’s turn to side-eye him. Something in there rang a bit more honestly than he suspects Kisuke intended it to. He flicks his gaze from the perfectly relaxed grip the shopkeeper has on the steering wheel to the slight cant of his head that lets his hat throw just enough of a shadow to hide his eyes.

Ichigo sighs. He still doesn’t understand but- “It’s _your_ fuel. If you go bankrupt, don’t blame me.”

Kisuke beams at him. “Tessai-san would never let me go bankrupt. He would kill me first.”

Ichigo snorts, far too used to Kisuke’s odd sense of humour to be particularly disturbed by it, but also, he’s probably right. Tessai’s the responsible one, on top of being friends with a pair of amoral (ex-?)assassins.

He puts it out of his mind and relaxes back in his seat instead. It’s been a long day and an even longer week. He spent three nights in a row helping the Gotei 13 put out literal fires after a flame-spewing _something_ escaped from the Twelfth, which meant three nights of no sleep and then having to drag his ass to class the next day.

A two-hour drive sounds perfect for an afternoon nap.

 

* * *

 

It doesn’t take long for Ichigo to notice the pattern. Every time he has a particularly crappy few days, either because he was kept busy helping the Shinigami or just because classes have gotten stressful, or both, Kisuke calls to ask if he wants a ride, and he never fails to show up after Ichigo’s last class for the day gets out. Sometimes, he even buys snacks for Ichigo, ice-cream or a burger, crepes one time, donuts another, always something Ichigo enjoys, and of course Kisuke would already magically know.

Occasionally, if Ishida and Chad finish at around the same time, Kisuke doesn’t mind them piling into the back of the car and driving them all home. But the first time Ichigo has to scramble to answer a text from Ishida asking where he is because he forgot he was supposed to wait an hour after his class let out in order to take them all home that day, and he’s already halfway back to Karakura in Kisuke’s car, he was all set to tell Kisuke pull over so he can open a Garganta back to the university, only for Ishida to reply with a disgruntled but unsurprised _:Tell us earlier next time, Kurosaki. Sado-kun and I will stay with Inoue-san and Arisawa-san for the night.:_ , and that was that.

He apologized again when he saw them next, because that really was kind of irresponsible of him. But Chad just shrugged, and Ishida didn’t seem particularly bothered either by the fact that Kisuke wasn’t actively offering _them_ a ride home even though they help out with almost as many Shinigami crises as Ichigo, and school isn’t any easier on them either.

“Well it’s you,” Ishida just said, looking annoyed that they were having such a pointless conversation at all when he could be working on his essay.

Ichigo didn’t get it. Ishida called him a moron and ignored all of them for the rest of the afternoon as they spent it studying in the library.

Ichigo let it go. Ishida was taciturn on a good day, and if they really didn’t mind, then he wasn’t going to kick up a fuss. But from then on, he always made sure to tell them if they had class and Kisuke was giving him a ride home that day, so they knew to just head over to Inoue and Tatsuki’s place afterwards instead of waiting for Ichigo.

Kisuke continues picking him up from campus. He gets odd looks sometimes, probably for his outdated outfit. He doesn’t even change out of his wooden sandals when he makes the trip over. Ichigo wonders if he took his driving test that way, then he wonders why he would think Kisuke took a driving test at all. He’d bet his sword arm Kisuke taught himself and falsified the license and papers afterwards.

“Do you own modern-day clothes?” Ichigo asks once out of curiosity. He tries to picture Kisuke in a casual shirt and jeans, and fails.

“I don’t,” Kisuke admits easily before casting a searching look at Ichigo as they slow to a halt at a red light and a railroad crossing beyond it, with the rumble of a train approaching from the right. “Does it bother you?”

Ichigo shrugs quizzically. “No? You wear what you wear. But I wondered cuz apparently you drive cars now-” Kisuke looks a bit like he actually wants to roll his eyes. Ichigo grins. “-although honestly, I can’t even imagine it. You’d probably look pretty weird.”

“Highly likely,” Kisuke nods, glancing down at himself. Something rueful and wry curls at one corner of his mouth. “This used to be a lot more common, even among humans. I guess I’ve gotten old without noticing. Time passes quickly when you aren’t paying attention.”

Ichigo snorts. “Don’t go getting all senile and nostalgic on me yet. You still think circles around literally everybody I know, and you kick _my_ ass on the regular when we spar. You don’t get to lament your old age until you can’t pull shit like that anymore.”

Kisuke smirks but it doesn’t do much to hide the way he’s preening behind it. “So never then?”

Ichigo rolls his eyes, and he’s a little disgusted with how fond it feels. “Don’t let it get to your head. I’ll beat you one day.”

He expects another flippant quip, maybe something about how Ichigo will need another century to even get close or how his Kidou is so (admittedly) horrendous that he’s never going to be able to win so long as Kisuke still has that trump card.

Kisuke doesn’t though. Instead, he just smiles, and it isn’t even one of his sly scheming ones that means something is about to blow up or someone is about to regret putting themselves in the shopkeeper’s sights very much, in the most humiliating way possible. This smile is faint and quiet, aimed at Ichigo in a way that’s a little proud and a lot warm, and Ichigo freezes in the face of it, feeling abruptly like he’s been handed something priceless and breakable.

“You will,” Kisuke agrees with the kind of simple absolute certainty that doesn’t allow an inch of space for doubt.

A strange tension fills the car, and for a long moment Ichigo just breathes and flounders for something to say. There’s no way Kisuke doesn’t notice it but all he does is step on the gas pedal when the gate finally lifts and the light turns green again.

Karakura’s looming ahead by the time Ichigo clears his throat to break the silence. He’s not even all that sure why two words stunned him so much. Everyone has faith in Ichigo’s ass-kicking abilities. It’s pretty much what he’s known for. If he can’t beat someone the first time, everybody knows by now that he’ll just keep getting stronger until he can. It’s his wheelhouse, and it’s not even that great a wheelhouse, hitting things until they stay down, but it’s what he’s good for, and he’s more or less accepted that.

Yet somehow-

“Thanks,” He mutters gruffly, far too late for it to not be awkward, but Kisuke just takes it in stride the way he does everything else. His eyes crinkle with amusement, but for once, he doesn’t tease.

Somehow, it means more when Kisuke says it. Maybe it’s because Kisuke trained him. Not well, at first, certainly not particularly thoroughly. The Hollowfication was fucked up, the secrets and schemes even more so. But Kisuke was there every step of the way, through every fuck-up and power-boost, before Aizen, after Aizen, through every misadventure and catastrophe, encouraging him in his own way every time Ichigo faltered or stumbled or thought _this time is finally going to kill me_ , and he’s still here now.

If he thinks about it, Kisuke’s the only Shinigami Ichigo still interacts with regularly. Being thrown together for a crisis and getting drinks after doesn’t really count - that’s work and might-as-well-hang-out-since-we’re-all-still-alive obligatory celebration, and half the time Ichigo doesn’t go anyway. He still considers quite a few people in the Gotei 13 his friends, but… well. Nobody up there gives him rides home or visits him at university or spars with him whenever he wants or teaches him Kidou or invites him out for dinner, now do they? Outside of his human friends and skyping his sisters every few evenings now that Karin is training for the summer Olympics and Yuzu is at culinary school overseas, it’s Kisuke he sees the most of these days.

So if Kisuke says it, says Ichigo can grow to be as powerful as he is one day - as _Urahara Kisuke_ whom Ichigo has never been able to defeat because the shopkeeper strategizes twenty steps ahead and is pretty much a master of every branch of Shinigami combat in existence, and he may not have as much raw power as Ichigo but he utilizes what he _does_ have with a lethal efficiency that far outstrips anything Ichigo can bring to the table right now, and it would take a lot more than just blitzing him with Getuga Tenshous to put him down - so if it’s Kisuke, who knows Ichigo’s potential and limits and resolve and still says he can, then it’s not so surprising that his faith means far more to Ichigo than what other people expect from him when he steps onto the battlefield.

“Shop or flat?” Kisuke asks as they enter Karakura proper.

Ichigo doesn’t really even think about it. “Shop.”

It’s almost time for dinner anyway. He can cook tonight.

(He doesn’t notice the pleased smile Kisuke turns away to hide this time.)

 

* * *

 

After the first few times one of his newly made, non-spiritually aware friends sees Kisuke waiting for him, she asks with some interest, “Is he your dad?”

Ichigo blinks, more bewildered than anything. “Does he _look_ like my dad?”

It’s hard to tell age with Shinigami, and not just because all of Ichigo’s Shinigami acquaintances are technically at least a century old. There’s something ageless about most of them, especially to human eyes. The stubble makes Kisuke look physically older but he could probably still pass for anywhere between his thirties to fifties. He looks nothing like Ichigo though so Ichigo’s not sure where Hotaru’s guess came from.

Hotaru looks slightly embarrassed. “I guess not. Sorry, I just see him picking you up every week so I thought he might be family or something.”

“He sort of is,” Ichigo allows. “Family friend. He gives me a ride back to my hometown when he has the time so I don’t have to- take the bus.”

“Oh.” Her smile turns impish. “Not boyfriend? That was my next guess.”

Ichigo stares. Hotaru shrugs, still grinning. “What? Older men are hot.” Ichigo flushes red, and she cackles even as she flicks an appreciative eye over Kisuke again. “And he definitely lucked out in the looks department.”

“Oh my god, shut up,” Ichigo hisses, and he can feel his ears go hot, which just makes her laugh harder. Why are all the friends he makes so terrible?

They part ways at the corner, Ichigo still grumbling, Hotaru waggling her eyebrows like an idiot as she waves goodbye. Ichigo rolls his eyes back before heading over to where the car is idling.

Kisuke’s eyebrows go up as Ichigo steps within hearing range. “Is everything alright? You seem… flustered.” His gaze slides past him, presumably to where Hotaru is walking in the opposite direction back to the dorms. “A friend of yours? I don’t know this one.”

“Yeah, Nakamura Hotaru, met her in my Latin course,” Ichigo sighs, tossing his bag in the back. He snorts, a reluctant smile tugging at his lips as he recalls, “First thing she ever said to me was that my face was scaring people away and that’s why nobody would sit with me.”

Then of course, she sat down and wouldn’t be budged, and they’ve been friends ever since. It was probably the easiest friendship Ichigo’s ever gained. He didn’t even have to fight anyone.

“Hmm,” Kisuke hums noncommittally, and Ichigo glances over as the blond slides in behind the wheel. The shopkeeper smirks back slyly. “You do have a propensity for making friends with rather unique individuals. This one seems like another.”

“...Yeah, maybe,” Ichigo answers slowly as Kisuke pulls away from the curb. That line of conversation dwindles to an end when he doesn’t say anything else and Kisuke doesn’t ask anything else.

Ichigo frowns.  The shopkeeper looks normal enough but…

He thinks… it might have been the words. The way Kisuke said them, light and airy and full of a humorous cheer that rang completely hollow.

Kisuke looks over at him now, arching an eyebrow in question, nothing out of the ordinary, and yet, when Kisuke’s gaze meets his, there’s a sharpness in the man’s eyes that reminds Ichigo of the bite of Benihime’s blade.

 _“Not boyfriend?”_ Hotaru’s words come back to him abruptly. _“That was my next guess.”_

Something clicks in his mind, like pieces of a puzzle he didn’t even know he was collecting suddenly falling into place and forming a picture he wasn’t even aware of.

“Ichigo?” Kisuke looks a little more concerned now, and the gleam of silver in his eyes has faded. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Ichigo says automatically. “Just tired. It’s been a long day.”

“Take a nap,” Kisuke suggests. “I’ll wake you when we get home.”

Ichigo nods and settles into his seat. He closes his eyes but he doesn’t sleep.

 

* * *

 

“Ishida!”

Ishida twitches violently like he wants to conjure his bow, and then he rounds on Ichigo and snaps, “ _What?_ ”

Ichigo suspects the hostile response stems more from the way Ichigo startled him with his ambush than any real irritation at having Ichigo strike up a conversation with him.

“Sorry,” Ichigo says shortly before rushing on. “Listen, I didn’t know who else to ask, but then I remembered something you said-” He falters, not quite sure if he should just blurt it out.

Ishida taps a foot against the ground. “Said what?”

Ichigo grimaces. “Remember that day Kisuke gave me a lift and I forgot to tell you that first time? And the next day, we were talking about it, about him offering me a ride but not you, and you said “well it’s you”, and I just need to know what you meant by that cuz I think, maybe- he’s been- I mean yesterday-”

Ishida heaves the most long-suffering sigh Ichigo’s ever heard from him. “Yesterday, you finally realized Urahara-san’s been courting you in the slowest, most roundabout way known to mankind?”

Ichigo’s breath sort of stalls for a moment. “...So he is?”

Ishida rolls his eyes. “ _Yes_. Congratulations on noticing. It only took you four months. Honestly, I thought it would take you a year minimum.”

“Shut up,” Ichigo retorts automatically. “...But why didn’t he just _say?_ Why didn’t _you_ tell me?”

Ishida shrugs. “It was none of my business. And how would I know anything about Urahara-san’s romancing techniques? Maybe he wanted to ease you into the idea. Maybe he was worried about pushing you too hard. He _is_ technically a lot older. But then,” He scoffs. “He’s been making eyes at you since we were seventeen. I’m impressed he’s waited five years before doing _something_ about it. I thought he would stake a claim the moment you turned legal.”

Ichigo stares, speechless. “...Seventeen?” He repeats weakly.

Ishida gives him a condescending look that’s mostly meant to be sympathetic. Ishida’s version of sympathetic anyway. “You never were very good at noticing people crushing on you.”

Ichigo is silent for a long moment. Ishida generously waits him out.

“You’re sure he really-” He makes a vague gesture with one hand.

Ishida sighs again. “Do you really think he’d drive two hours here and back just so he can spend time with you if he _didn’t_ like you? Or buy you food? Or offer to let you call him by his first name? He didn’t offer to the rest of us, and you _know_ he uses formalities like a shield. He gets all of us birthday presents but it’s usually just food or training equipment for us. He _made_ you-” Ishida jabs a finger at the bag currently slung over Ichigo’s shoulder. “-a bag with an entire separate dimension’s worth of storage space inside just because you wanted to go travelling after high school. He made you a laptop with wifi that runs on reiatsu for your twentieth when you finally decided to go to university. Trust me, he is disgustingly head over heels for you _._ ” Ishida gives him an impatient look. “Now go do something about it and stop bothering me with it. What am I, your relationship counsellor?”

“You could probably get a job as one if the fashion-designing thing falls through,” Ichigo deadpans, and then bolts before Ishida can try to shoot him. “Thanks, Ishida!”

 

* * *

 

Later that day, he takes his friends and himself back to Karakura via Garganta. Then he calls Kisuke’s favourite sushi place to reserve a table for two. Then, well.

He’s never really done this before. Never had a significant other, never even gone out on a date. Or, well, he supposes Kisuke’s been conning him out on pseudo-dates for years now, that tricky bastard. God forbid he just _tells_ Ichigo what he wants.

What he wants is apparently Ichigo, and… it’s not actually that much of a shock once the initial surprise has worn off. On hindsight, Kisuke wasn’t actually trying very hard to hide it, there were tons of little hints that even Ichigo would’ve picked up on if he knew to look for them in the first place.

And Ichigo is… not entirely opposed to the idea. Or at all, as it turns out. The thing is, he _likes_ spending time with Kisuke. He enjoys the conversation, whether it’s about Shinigami or Ichigo’s classes or one of Kisuke’s experiments or even just banter. He enjoys their spars, with or without their Zanpakutou, and the little tricks with shunpo footwork that Kisuke likes to teach him, usually only reserved for Second Division members.

Four out of seven nights, Ichigo stays at the shop in the room he was given years ago rather than make the trip back to his modest flat. His childhood home was sold a while back; Isshin packed his bags when the girls moved out and headed back to Seireitei. Ichigo hasn’t heard much from him since.

Honestly, he probably spends more time with Kisuke than literally anybody else, and clearly neither of them has a problem with that. He can’t say he’s _in love_ with Kisuke, but he finds himself wanting to see where their relationship could go. They practically live together already, and the thought of moving into a _romantic_ relationship with the man doesn’t make him as nervous as he probably should be.

There’s no harm in trying, he thinks. And whether intentionally or not, the fact that Kisuke’s placed the decision entirely in his hands does a lot to help Ichigo make up his mind.

Beyond the first time with Aizen, Kisuke’s never tried to manipulate him, not in any way that was seriously harmful. It’s no different now. And coming from a man who practically makes a living out of manipulating people, Ichigo can acknowledge just how highly Kisuke must regard him.

 

* * *

 

Ichigo swings by the shop, asks Kisuke out for dinner, and they head over to the sushi place. It’s nothing they haven’t done before. Ichigo worries for a moment that things might get awkward now that he _knows_ , but it’s easy to fall into their usual pace of conversation, and soon it feels like any other evening spent together over a good meal.

Except this time, when they get up to leave, instead of each of them paying for their own food, Ichigo pointedly bats Kisuke’s hand aside and sets down enough money to cover both of them.

“I invited you out,” Ichigo says, boldly, bravely, determined to make his point. “First date, my treat. You can get the next one.”

Kisuke freezes, and Ichigo almost has to laugh. It’s rare to see the shopkeeper so stunned. It only lasts a few seconds, and by the time Ichigo finishes paying, Kisuke’s moving again, one hand placed almost absently on his hat as he follows Ichigo out of the restaurant.

“...That was terribly unromantic,” Kisuke eventually says, half a street down.

Ichigo shrugs a little tightly, but when he chances a look at the shopkeeper, Kisuke is already watching him, warm and fond and hopeful, and relief crashes into Ichigo, loosening his lungs again.

“Gimme a break,” He pretends to scowl, but it’s offset by the smile trying to spread across his face. “I’ve never done this before.”

“I suppose I’ll have to show you then,” Kisuke agrees. “As the wiser and more experienced lover.”

Ichigo sniggers, he can’t help it, it sounds ridiculous when Kisuke puts it that way. He catches a glimpse of the man’s expression transforming into an exaggerated pout, and he ends up laughing outright.

“Sure, I look forward to it,” He says, still grinning.

Kisuke slants a look at him, and his features soften at the grain of truth embedded in those words despite coming out as a joke.

They reach the shop. Kisuke unlocks the door and glances back. “Stay the night?”

It isn’t anything he hasn’t asked before.

“Sure,” Ichigo says easily, and it isn’t anything he hasn’t agreed to just as often.

It still feels like the beginning of a new chapter when the two of them disappear inside.

 

**Author's Note:**

> *For information on UraIchi Week, [go here](https://uraichiweek.tumblr.com/).


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